It Happens That Way
by HorseLover200
Summary: Okay, so this is actually based on the TV show: The Outsiders. It has all the same Greasers and Socs, but it is set after Johnny, and Dally, and Bob are dead. Also, it is based after the very last episode of the TV Series. So, Scout is now in the Greasers. Anyways, this is a story about Ponyboy and Scout getting together, because I love them as a couple.
1. Cuter Than You

It'd been a whole two weeks since my step-dad was arrested, something that got me and my mother both pretty relieved. No more moving. We were going to stay right where we were, and that meant I could still see my friends. Well, more so Ponyboy than the rest of the Greasers. You could say I was much closer to Ponyboy than anyone else, and mostly because we related so much and we hung out an awful lot. Sometimes, we even watch the sunset together on some old bridge. It's peaceful, and I like to sit there next to him and watch the sun sink in the sky. Sometimes, I get real close to him, and lay my head on his lap. He lets me do that, and I let him let me. If that makes any sense at all.

So, I ain't the best writer, or speller, but Ponyboy has taught me a good bit of it, since, you know, he's wantin' to be an author and all. Anyways, about two weeks after my dad was arrested, I was over at Pony's for dinner. Darrel had invited me over; see how I was doing and all. Me and Ponyboy were sittin' in his and Soda's room, well; really we were sittin' out on a little bench outside their window. We'd climbed through the window to get there. We were talking about a bunch of different stuff in clumps of conversation, because both of us ain't so good at making small talk.

"So, what happened to that one kid? What's his name that took you to that Soccy party and all?" Ponyboy asked me, taking a rock and throwing it across the side yard. "I remember you coming over that night all upset, but I don't know what happened. You don't talk to him no more." I looked over at him and shrugged my shoulders, looking down at my feet and kicking some stones.

"Nothing, really. I just realized that Soc's ain't who I need to be hangin' with, ya' know? I like sticking with my own kind. Greasers are way more trustworthy." I explained to him, not wanting to mention the kiss that me and the boy had shared that night. Really, I didn't want Pony to think I was interested in anyone else, because…he was who I liked. I'd liked him since I met him. He was different than other people. Ponyboy was more understanding, sweet, and boy was he cute, with his hair all greased back, nice and neat and all. But, I didn't think he liked me all too much as more than a friend, because he was always staring at that stupid, Cherry Valance.

"Oh, well, I'm glad you don't hang out with him anymore." He said, and I thought he would say more, but he didn't. Smiling a little, I stood up and brushed off my pants. He was glad I wasn't hanging out with that Soc, because…he was jealous of that Soc, maybe? Doubtful, but I hoped.

"We best go see if dinner's done." That was how our conversations were. We said a few things on the subject, and then the other changed the subject. Unless we started talking about Ponyboy's old friends, Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston. The two that died not too long ago. He had lots to say about those two. I could tell they were pretty close. Ponyboy stood up next to me, brushing his own jeans off and nodding, running his comb through his hair once or twice.

"Alright. I guess it should be done by now. But, who knows with Soda cookin'." He joked, grinning and slipping back through the bedroom first, with myself following behind. Ponyboy led me from his bedroom to the kitchen, where the table was set straight in the middle due to little space in the small little house. I was surprised the first time I walked in three boys could live in the small house, and parents with them before that.

Sodapop was just finishing with the burgers, and I helped Ponyboy set the table so Darry didn't have to worry about it. I had heard that Darry'd been in a fight, and he was still cooling off from it, so I thought I'd help as much as I could. I reached up towards a cabinet, trying to grab a few glasses from the top, but I was a tad too short. Ponyboy came up behind me, reaching up and taking down four glasses. It made me feel a little warm, having him so close to me right then, but I hid it well by ducking under his raised arm and sitting down at the table where it was normally empty.

"Hey, Scout." Darry said, coming from his room with just jeans on and sitting down at the table across from me. I waved my hand casually, smiling slightly to be polite.

"Hey Darry. But, you know, you didn't have to invite me over. I know how you guys are having trouble with the budget; I don't want to be an extra mouth to feed and all." I mumbled, glancing down at my plate and looking at him through my bangs. He just shrugged, waiting for Soda to put the food on his plate.

"No, it's alright Scout. You're always welcome. Just like any of the other guys." He told me, though only gave a polite smile back my way. I knew that was how Darry was. He didn't have to much emotion to show, because he tried to hide it a good bit of the time. Ponyboy had explained this to me a few weeks ago. I believed him, since he lived with the guy and all he must know a bit more about him than I did. Ponyboy filled three of the glasses with chocolate milk, and the other with water for Darry. The chocolate milks were for him, me, and Soda. After everyone had sat down we started to eat.

"So, Soda, I heard that…what's her face wasn't really…with child." I said, hesitating a bit before deciding on what to say for the last few words. I wasn't good with serious talk, but I tried to be when I was talking around Darry. That guy was as serious as the color brown. Sodapop lifted his head, his chewing slowing and placed his burger on his plate. Darry's head shot up and he narrowed his eyes on Scout.

"What are you talking about? Who was 'with child' in the first place?" He asked, also dropping his burger on his plate. Soda swallowed and jumped up from the table, coughing.

"Excuse me," He said and hurried out of the door. I felt kind of bad for bringing it up, because I truly thought Darry had known as well! It wasn't my fault, but I still felt terrible now. Darry stood, following his brother out the door and leaving me and Pony alone at the table.

"I'm real sorry, Pony, I thought Darry kn-"

"That's alright. I know you didn't know. Don't worry about it, Soda'll understand." Ponyboy assured me, smiling and continuing to eat his burger. I didn't know how he could be so calm about it.

"But, Ponyboy, won't Darry yell at Soda now…for not telling him?" Ponyboy shook his head, taking a long sip of his chocolate milk and wiping his mouth.

"Darry never yells at Soda. He only yells at me." He told me, shrugging nonchalantly and moving to take his plate to the sink when it was empty. I threw the rest of my burger away, not really having the appetite for it tonight, and put my plate with Pony's.

"Oh, come on. I'm sure that ain't true." I rolled my eyes in disbelief, leaning against the counter and looking over at him. Ponyboy nodded his head, though shrugged again like it didn't bother him.

"Yeah, it's true. But, it don't bother me none anymore. I'm used to it," He nudged me to the door with a small shove. "Come on, I'll walk you home." He grabbed his brown, leather jacket, which I had figured out used to be Dallas Winston's before he had died, and put it over his shoulders as he took me outside the front of his house. I shouldn't have felt so giddy, because Ponyboy always walked me home when I came over, but this time I did. Boy, I hated how I felt. My crush for Ponyboy grew every time I saw him.

"Alright. So, uh, hey. My mom is having some friends over tonight. They might get drunk. If it gets to crazy, can you leave your window open for me? I'll just sleep on the floor or somethin', since Darry don't want me on the couch anymore." I asked a bit timidly, not wanting to invade on any plans he had for tonight. Maybe fantasizing about Cherry Valance, I thought bitterly.

"Of course I will Scout. You don't even have to ask. Just tell me to leave it open." Ponyboy grinned down at me, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. Man, he looked so cute like that. Especially with that grin of his. It got my heart thumping.


	2. The Movies

When I made it to Buck's, or the DX station, the next day I was glad to see that Ponyboy was there, as well as Two bit and Steve. Sodapop must've been inside serving as a bartender today. It didn't bother me too much that he wasn't there; since I still kind of thought that he was angry at me. If he was, it was best that he wasn't around right now. Two bit was drinking out of a platinum flask, and he and Ponyboy were laughing while Steve had obviously just walked over to them.

"Oh, hey Scout." Ponyboy smiled, spotting me from where he was leaning against side of the DX station. He pushed away from the wall, leaving Two bit to turn and talk to Steve. I met Ponyboy by the door of the bar, and smiled a little, waving in greeting.

"Hey Pony." I said, stopping and leaning back on my heels and looking up at him. Ponyboy had his hands in his pockets and was grinning in that cute way of his again. Dang, I wished he didn't do that so much.

"Wanna go inside? I'll buy us both a coke or something," He told me, motioning for me to enter the building before him. I took the offer and walked into the dimly lit bar and restaurant and headed for the bar, where we usually sat. As I had suspected, Soda was working the bar, cleaning it and watching the door for some customers. Only two were in the bar right now, Tim Shepard and some guy who was always there reading the newspaper. I didn't like Tim Shepard too much, he was to manipulative and controlling for me. Even if he didn't try to be so controlling, he still was.

"Hey Sodapop, can you get us two cokes?" Ponyboy asked, sitting on the stool next to mine and throwing two nickels on the bar. Soda looked up and grinned at Ponyboy, swiping the nickels and nodding to me.

"On a date, Ponyboy? She's a keeper that Scout." He joked, reaching into the freezer to grab two coke bottles. Ponyboy laughed a little at his brothers' joke, taking his coke and opening it easily.

"It's just a coke, Sodapop." He replied, and I frowned a little at his response. Though, I didn't let my feelings show too much, so they wouldn't see how disappointed I was. Maybe Ponyboy said that to hide _his _feelings. That could be an answer, and it'd be a lot better than what I was getting out of it. Sodapop shrugged, leaning against the counter in front of us and I was relieved to see Soda didn't seem to angry at me. Though, I did think apologizing would be a good thing to do right now. Since I hadn't gotten a chance to do so last night.

"Soda, I'm sorry about last night. I didn't know Darry didn't know about that girl being pregnant." I frowned, looking at Soda guiltily. He shrugged his shoulders again, tossing the towel he was using to the side and ruffling my hair with one hand.

"Oh, don't worry about it kid. Darry understood, and he was real happy to figure out that she wasn't really pregnant. I'm real happy too." Soda told me, grinning in almost complete relief. He lifted his head when someone walked through the door. It was Two bit, and Steve was walking back towards the garage of the station, he could be seen through the window. Two bit walked over to us and slung an arm around my shoulder playfully.

"Now, now. What _do _we have here? Looks like Scout's getting all the ladies tonight." He said, and then burst out laughing like that was the funniest joke he'd ever heard or said before. I couldn't help myself, I let out a small chuckle and Ponyboy did too.

"Hey, Two bit." Soda said, grinning at his friend and leaning away from the counter. Two bit removed his arm from around my shoulders and sat on the stool next to Ponyboy. Him and Ponyboy were real nice friends, and I was kind of jealous of their friendship. Ponyboy and Two bit were much better friends with each other than I've ever had with anyone, except for Pony of course. But, I was happy for the two as well. It would be nice if I could have a friend like Two bit, someone to keep me laughing when things in my life got bad. But, it was also nice to have a friend like Ponyboy, to help when you needed help. Two bit needed that, as well as myself.

"What're ya'll doin' today?" Two bit asked, placing his flask on the counter and swinging in the stool to face Ponyboy. Pony shrugged his shoulders, taking another swig of his coke and looking like he was in deep thought.

"Well, I dunno Two bit. Why? You wanna take us out or somethin'?" Ponyboy joked, grinning at his friend and putting his coke bottle on the bar counter. Sodapop had disappeared from sight, and I figured he had gone outside to talk to Steve for a little while, maybe bored with the conversation we were having inside. Two bit grinned back, but shook his head also.

"Nope, I was just plannin' on joinin' you, whatever you were doin'. Guess I'll just go hunt my own action." He answered, standing at the bar and leaving his flask where it was, he started to leave the bar. "Oh, uh, here Pony. Here's some money," He tossed Ponyboy some coins, and he gave the quickest glance towards me and smiled again before turning and leaving the bar. Ponyboy shoved the coins into his pocket and looked over at me.

"So, you wanna go to the drive-in or something?" He asked me, taking a sip of his coke and looking at me with a casual sort of gaze. I knew he thought it was casual, asking me to the movies, because Greasers went to the movies together. They did a lot of things together, and if it had been any other Greasy girl, they would have thought that and moved on. But, me, I was looking deeper into Ponyboy's questions than I should. So, of course, when he asked me this I got a little choked up and I almost spit my coke out. Because, I considered this a date for some reason, with Ponyboy asking me the question. If it had been Two-bit, Steve, or Soda, I wouldn't have thought nothing about it but Greasers sticking together. But, with Ponyboy I just couldn't help myself.

"Oh, uh, sure Pony!" I replied after a long fit of coughing and choking on my coke. He was looking at me funny, and I looked down at the counter. "Sorry, went down the wrong way." I added defensively. Ponyboy just shrugged, standing off of the stool and waiting for me.

"You alright though?" He asked me, and I nodded in response. We left our coke bottles on the counter when we left, something we usually did because Soda worked there. Ponyboy and the others liked to give him things to do, just because they thought it was funny. I didn't care, honestly, but I just did what they did. Meant I didn't have to clean up after myself, so, I was fine with it. Anyway, we walked down to the drive-in that always has a kind of mix with Greasers and Socs. Ponyboy showed me a neat, broken fence that we could climb under, which was like sneaking into the movie. But, it seemed like Ponyboy did that often from how quickly he got through the fence. Maybe all the others did that when they came to the movies. I'd heard stories about Dallas Winston, and I was sure he would do something like that. No money? Whatever, I can sneak under a fence!

We sat down near the back, farther away from the screen, so the actors and actresses looked kind of small from where we sat. And, of course, there were a bunch of cars there, with so many people crammed in and barely watching the movie at all. It was a bad movie that was on, so, I didn't expect people _to _be watching anyway.

"This movie kind of stinks, doesn't it?" I said to Ponyboy, laughing a little just to show I was trying to make a joke. Ponyboy looked over at me, and I was surprised at his serious expression.

"Me and Johnny were watching this the night we killed that Soc, Bob. Man, it's been a long while." He murmured. I don't know why he shared that information with me, because I didn't care what movie he was watching that night. I cared about that night, sure, but not the movie he was watching. I mean, geez, did I need a play by play? The most important part of that night was that Ponyboy wasn't drowned and I got to meet him. Though, the drowning wasn't the only reason he might have died before I met him. That fire he talked about sometimes, that could've put him out like it had Johnny. But, I knew better than to bring up that subject. Johnny dying. It would kill Ponyboy, and he'd hate me for sure. Especially if I told him that I didn't care what movie he was watching that night of the Soc killing, or the rumble the night Johnny and Dally both died.

Ponyboy shifted in his chair, looking at the movie screen and put his arms around the chair behind me. I shifted a little, smiling but letting the smile fade before staring at the screen myself.

"Hey, Scout," Someone said from behind us and me and Ponyboy both turned our heads at the voice. I bet Pony wasn't turning because he was glad to hear the voice, and I wasn't too happy to hear it either. When I looked back, I saw exactly who I knew I'd see. Bobbie Dean. He'd kissed me a while ago, at a Soc party he took me too, and his friends had come up and started saying stuff. I left after that, and I hadn't talked to Bobbie since. Pony sighed a little, lifting three fingers in a weak wave to Bobbie. That sure showed that Pony wasn't too happy.

"Oh, hey Bobbie." I murmured, turning away from him and staring at the screen again. I didn't want Bobbie there, just so his friends could come and make fun of me again. It was funny, since me and Pony had just been talking about him last night before dinner. Bobbie sat down in the seat on the other side of me and coughed.

"What're you doing, watching a lame movie like this anyway?" He asked me, smiling like me and him were best friends forever or something. I shrugged my shoulders and scooted towards Pony, just to get a good bit away from Bobbie.

"I came with Ponyboy. We had nothin' else to do. What do you care anyway?" I snipped, not looking over at him, but staring at my ripped jeans that showed my scarred knees. Who'd he think he was, coming over and acting like he was my boyfriend or something?

"Oh, well, wanna go to a party? I know someone who's throwin' one tonight." He suggested, smiling at me again. I shot him an angry glare, shaking my head.

"Why? So you can kiss me and have some kissing game called Kiss the Greaser?" Bobbie frowned at my words, looking away from me and sighing.

"I'm sorry Scout! I didn't mean for those guys to see us." He tried; I guess he was trying to apologize. But, what he said only made me angrier. Boy, Soc's were bad at this kind of stuff for sure.

"So, you're saying you're embarrassed to have kissed me?" I snapped. Ponyboy moved out of his seat, looking at the two of us for a second before shaking his head.

"I'll go. Just go to the party, Scout." He murmured, starting to walk towards that one fence where we came in. I saw him pull out a cigarette and cursed silently to myself. I had caused Ponyboy to smoke again. He had promised to quit, and now he was smoking because I had hung out with Bobbie in the first place. Man, was I a mess up. Bobbie watched Ponyboy go as well, and he stood up, grinning down at me and holding out one hand, the other one was tucked into his pocket.

"Come on! Let's go. It'll be fun. Promise," He assured me. I couldn't believe he actually expected me to go with him, when he had just done that. Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely Bobbie's fault, but he had saw me with Ponyboy. He could've left us alone and kept walking!

"I'm not going, Bobbie Dean, and you can get over it." I huffed, standing up and jerking around. I saw Ponyboy not to far a distance away yet, and jogged after him. I felt proud of myself, leaving Bobbie Dean like that. Man, I probably would've been dead stupid if Ponyboy hadn't been there. I would've probably fallen for Bobbie's apology and gone. But, maybe I wouldn't have. Maybe I would've done exactly the same thing without Ponyboy there. Well, there was no way of knowing if I would or not, since Pony had been there.

"Ponyboy, wait! Geez, you can walk can't you." I huffed, turning my jog into a walk when I came up next to him. I looked up at him and, seeing the cigarette in his mouth, grabbed it and threw it on the ground. After stomping it out, I glared up at him and found him glaring right back at me. But, I didn't care.

"Ponyboy Curtis, you best not light one more cigarette!" Ponyboy grinned down at me, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets and starting to walk again.

"Alright, I promise Scout. Let's go to Buck's. I'm starved," He smiled, and I smiled right back at him. For some odd reason, I was getting less and less shy with him. I'd never really been this way with anyone before. Maybe it was because I liked Ponyboy, or maybe because he made me feel wanted, needed, and like I was somebody. Well, I'd never know, I knew that for sure. And, I didn't really care why at that moment, so I just walked with Ponyboy to Buck's.


End file.
